


Mischief in Progress

by DemiliaAug



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Marauders era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 06:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14074791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemiliaAug/pseuds/DemiliaAug
Summary: The story of how the Marauders met and the trouble that followed.





	Mischief in Progress

James Potter found Sirius Black on the Hogwarts Express in a compartment crying by himself. A few legacy wizards and witches from families full of Slytherin were walking away with snarls on their faces. One of them was a prefect with strikingly pale blonde hair and skin, who especially looked vicious. James pushed his way past all of them with a half-hearted sorry and shit-eating smirk. He pushed into the train compartment and sat across from the crying boy.

“Are you alright? Were those assholes bothering you?”

James remember how his mother always looked at him when he swore and his cheeks went slightly pink. Sirius looked up from the wildly dark hair that covered his face and tears. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. “I’m absolutely fine. What would bloody well make you think otherwise?”

He flipped his hair back with a shake of his head and stared at the boy across from him with the absolute mess of hair on his head and slightly crooked glasses. James gave him a knowing look but dropped it. Two other boys and a redhead approached the compartment and they made room for them. 

The conversation slowly fell into a streamless chatter of the food that would be for dinner that night and who knew what spells. Another boy popped his head in to talk to the redhead, his dark hair slick and his face pale. He was talking about Slytherin house to her and James’ head turned towards them.

“Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?” James asked Sirius.

Sirius had been lounging across from the and his face was still as stone. “My whole family has been in Slytherin,” he said.

The same knowing look flashed through James’s eyes but he pushed through the conversation. “Blimey, and I thought you were all right!”

Sirius grinned at the joke that came from James to try and ease the tension. He was grateful for it and quipped back, “ “Maybe I’ll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you’ve got the choice?”

Deep down Sirius really did hope he got the choice and there was a twinge of sadness that came out with the last few words. James raised an invisible sword and defended an invisible enemy. “Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad,” James exclaimed.

The snobbish boy standing in the entryway made a noise of disgust in response and James turned back to him, a fierce look in his eyes.

“Got a problem with that?” he asked challenging the boy.

The pale boy sneered back in response, “If you’d rather be brawny than brainy-”

But Sirius cut him off. “Where’re you hoping to go, seeing as you’re neither?”

James laughed heartily and the redhead got up to leave, taking the Slytherin hopeful with her.

“Come on, Severus, let’s find another compartment,” the redhead said.

James and Sirius mocked her in response. James called out to the boy as the door was closing, “See ya Snivellus!”

James and Sirius looked at one another for a moment. Finally, James moved to sit with Sirius, shoving his feet off the bench beside him. The other two boys went back to chatting between themselves and ignored them. Sirius looked at James with a slight panic in his eyes but James grinned and leaned forward. “I know who you are now.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow in response. “Oh really?” he asked cooly.

“You’re Sirius Black and I know you were crying when I came in because those Slytherins know you don’t fit in with them. You belong in Gryffindor with me.”

Sirius scoffed. “Is that so?”

A look of determination came over James’s face. “I’ll tell you what. Can you keep a secret?”

Burning curiosity ran across Sirius’s face. “I come from a family of Slytherins. That’s about the only thing I can do that please them. Go on.”

James grinned. “No matter what house you get into, I’ll help you make their lives hell.”

A barking laugh came from Sirius. “How do you plan on doing that?”

His eyes twinkled with mischief behind his glasses and James replied, “Easy. I have an invisibility cloak and it’s like nothing even money can buy. It’s the stuff of legends.”

Sirius felt a bond click in place in that moment and knew he had made a mate. They bowed their heads together and whispered a plan between them as the Hogwarts Express raced to the school. Sirius didn’t think Hogwarts would be bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Some of the dialogue is the exact stuff from J.K. Rowling’s scene with Snape’s memories so credits go to her for that portion. I tried to work the actions a little differently though.


End file.
